This blog is a place for me to sort my thinking as I teach to learn and reach each day to have better understandings. I hope this blog will be a celebration of the joy I find in learning with people and through literature.

Monday, June 18, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It has been a fabulous summer of reading so far. Part of the joy is passing on books or titles to others and receiving titles from, thanks to technology, my ever widening reading community. Recently Stella at My World-Mi Mundo posted about her experience as she finished See You at Harry's . After hearing her and others talk about this book I knew I had to read it! I read it in one day and immediately passed the book to a friend. Last night I received a message from this friend saying, "Thanks for making me cry a ton today." If you know me at all, then you know I went into paranoid mode! Ah, finally, I realized I had not hurt her, rather the book had touched her. A touching, deep read - many different layers of real issues - just get the tissues ready.

Several weeks ago I went out of my reading norm with Divergent. While on a different level of intensity, I followed reading Divergent with a postapocalyptic YA The Prince Who Fell from the Sky. It did feel good to move out of the comfort zone with both of these book and I loved them. I think middle school and high school readers probably already know Divergent and are waiting for the 3rd book of this series! I look forward to recommending The Prince Who Fell from the Sky to intermediate grade readers.

I am a huge fan of Deborah Wiles, her books just delight and reach me. I have to say as I was reading Three Times Lucky, I was reminded of some of the Deborah Wiles characters who are unforgettable. While the characters are uniquely each author's own, I just fell in love with the characters in Three Times Lucky easily as well. I can't wait to share this book with 4th and 5th graders! Sheila Turnage has created a book that makes you laugh, presents a mystery, offers memorable characters and reminds us how family is defined by our hearts.

Just a fun teacher note... the last time I blogged about Jake and Lily and mentioned that I knew just the twins who needed to read this book. Funny thing, now every time I see these two the brother tells me how slow his sister reads and that it will be the end of the summer before he gets the book! Yes, confirmed... the perfect twins for this twin/sibling book!

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About Me

I am a Reading Recovery teacher in Dublin City Schools. When my first graders are unavailable I get the honor of reading with 4th and 5th graders - a perfect balance in my reading teacher world. My husband and I have 2 girls who are both in college. Reading is a passion and I am excited to write more often.